Down The Hatch #23

I'd like to think I'm a lot like most visitors to Adult DVD Empire... when I see Eva Angelina, I'm a really happy guy. So when I saw the cover of Down The Hatch 23, my eyes lit up a bit and I was anxious to get to work on this review. But I also suspected that this was not to be the Down The Hatch of the old days, and that turns out to be accurate. It is a bit softer action, but rest assured, each girl does still swallow in the end.

Three scenes really stood out to me, the first being the first scene on the disc, the lovely Eva Angelina. It's always nice when a movie gets right at it. The opening sequence is well captured, a kind of tease, but they linger on each shot enough to make it good. I like having that at the beginning, as it goes a long way towards setting up establisher shots, making later establishers less necessary. Eva begins by pulling her panties to the side and masturbating for a bit. She gets going pretty well before a guy comes in, and basically does the same thing to her. A guy using his hand on a girl has never struck me as quite right, as they never seem to be properly gentle (especially Ben English), and the guy always manages to obscure the girl a bit. Eva does her ever fabulous oral work, with all of the wonderful facial expressions for which she's known. It makes a huge difference when the female talent can be expressive... it's the secret ingredient in any scene. The reverse cowgirl scene is well done as well, and it's in such a scene that I first saw Eva a number of years ago. It's still a great sequence, though they slide far enough off the couch to make the position seem much more difficult than it needs to. The popshot is of course fantastic, and Eva interacts with the camera brilliantly to deliver what the title promises. Good stuff.

I can't think of any reason not to like Alexis Texas, though I have heard the occasional grumbling that she doesn't do anal. That's okay. Maybe she will, maybe she won't, but her body is lovely, and her face is as cute as they come in porn. And here she's in a scorching bit of lingerie that does it for me before we even see any action. It's a combination of a full bodystocking with what looks like fishnets on under it, though it's all the same outfit. It's amazing stuff. Alexis uses a toy on herself for a bit, and the camera angle here is awkward enough to make enjoying watching her difficult. The camera is just too low, so all we see is her crotch, some leg, and her face in the background. Then she pulls the toy out one time and is immediately getting fucked. It's almost a shame her lingerie gets ripped open so much, but all that does is show off her amazing ass. If you've never seen Alexis in action before, that's her prime asset, and she works it to its full. The part that really shines is when she gets fucked while standing and bent over. It shows off her fantastic legs as well, and it's very easy to capture. It's her interaction and facial expressions with the camera that make the popshot work very well as well. This scene alone makes the disc worth the money, really.

The last scene features Rachel Roxxx and Priscilla Milan. I'm fascinated by this, almost completely because Rachel never looks the same in any two scenes. The buxom brunette and her blonde cohort put on quite a show, though, also well worth the price of admission.

One major complaint from a production standpoint is the fact that I could not, on any machine, get the sound and video to line up. That sort of problem really shouldn't exist with modern production equipment. I can line that stuff up on the very machine on which I'm typing. Other than that, it's really the female talent that makes the disc shine. There isn't anything special otherwise that holds it together, in fact. It delivers what it promises, but not much more.